Defenders drew a bead on Palin when she was Republican vice presidential nominee. In last fall’s campaign, it aired an emotionally wrenching TV spot showing hunters blasting away from the air, wounded wolves crawling across the snow, and carcasses being tossed onto planes.

The group has launched a new Web site, EyeonPalin.org. It is airing a video featuring Judd, who says of the aerial hunt: “It is time to stop Sarah Palin and stop this senseless strategy.”

“I am outraged by Sarah Palin’s promotion of this cruel, unscientific and senseless practice which has no place in modern America,” said Judd. “Because she is apparently determined to continue and expand this horrific program, I am grateful that Defenders of Wildlife will aggressively fight to stop her.”

Palin has been in Washington, D.C., of late, attending the annual Alfalfa Society dinner – a comic sendup on politicians of both parties – and angering Virginia Republicans with last minute cancellation of a scheduled appearance. She also used the trip to renew calls for oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

But Palin’s press office has put out a statement calling Defenders of Wildlife an “extreme fringe group” and defending what it calls “our predator control program.” It claimed that predators (e.g. wolves) can “decimate moose and caribou populations.”

“Shame on Defenders of Wildlife for twisting the truth in an effort to raise funds from innocent and hard-pressed Americans struggling with these rough economic times,” the statement added.

Curiously, the fight between Palin and Defenders of Wildlife comes as Alaska’s congressional delegation in Washington, D.C., seeks to project a more moderate and conciliatory image.

In years past, the delegation was known for Rep. Don Young’s outbursts against “jet-setting hippie backpackers,” and Sen. Ted Stevens’ claim that new national parks in Alaska were for the “effete rich.” Young and Stevens made threats against opponents on the floor of the House and Senate.

After indictment and conviction for not reporting expensive gifts from an oil industry friend, Stevens was defeated last November by Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska.

Begich and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska , are projecting reasonableness. Murkowski worked with Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., last year to push a set of preservation proposals toward a Senate vote.

Conciliation has worked, so far. A just-passed bill – creating new wilderness in the “lower 48″ states – contains a provision allowing construction of a seven-mile road through a national wildlife refuge in Alaska. The road was a longtime goal of Stevens, who was unable to win colleagues’ approval despite his great power and seniority in the Senate.

Don Young is still around, but was one of only four House Republicans to vote for the Lilly Ledbetter bill, which gives victims of age, sex and racial discrimination a much longer period in which they can file lawsuits against employers.

Young was invited to the White House when the bill was signed, and chatted for several minutes with President Obama.